


and you're making me feel like i'm loved by somebody

by Wow_girl1244



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, F/M, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Love, Post-Reveal Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Pre-Relationship, Requited Love, gabriel agreste is a bad parent, post-reveal, so much love, these kids love each other SO much its insane
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-29
Updated: 2019-06-29
Packaged: 2020-05-30 20:42:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19411021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wow_girl1244/pseuds/Wow_girl1244
Summary: In the darkest moments, in the stuffiest crowds, in the happiest times, and everything in between, the would hold each other, and it was more than enough for him. It was everything he could ever ask for.





	and you're making me feel like i'm loved by somebody

**Author's Note:**

> Sooo this is inspired by Justin Bieber and Ed Sheeran's new song 'I don't care' and i'm not sure how this got so angsty. Don't ask me.   
> Anywayyys, thanks for reading! I hope you enjoy it!  
> Leave comments with your thoughts below, please!

If there was one way to describe Adrien Agreste’s evening it was this: stuffy evening filled with an obnoxious group of people that he did not fit in with. Needless to say, he was not enjoying this evening.

Adrien was at yet another gala for his fathers latest fashion line and he was sure he was going to spontaneously combust from boredom and annoyance. A contrived smile was on his face as he was passed from conversation to conversation, the people all staring at him, judging him while they pretended to admire him.

It may sound melodramatic, but people like this were always judging. Despite being taller than most of them, or at least the same height, they somehow looked down their noses at him, smiles mocking, eyes glazed whenever he spoke unless it was something they could gossip about later on.

It was tiring having to be on all the time. Nino called it Ultra-Adrien. Before that, the world ultra reminded Adrien of superheroes, or like when he called on cataclysm. Before, it made him think of good things, like boosts. Now he understood the word ultra was like being one-hundred percent and that wasn’t a good thing. Being one-hundred precent was like being the most perfect version of himself and he hated it.

He hated having to play at being perfect, he hated his father having these expectations of him, and he hated the people who thought this was who he was and, somehow, still expected more.

No one would know he felt that way, though, from the smile on his face and the polite tone he used to converse with everyone. He wanted to do nothing more than reveal himself as Chat Noir to all these hypocritical people and show them who he was. Adrien knew he couldn’t do that, though, so he continued walking from person to person, same conversations after conversation.

“Adrien,” called one woman who expected him to remember who she was. She spoke with a voice of someone who was used to handing out opinions, thinking people cared. I saw the pictures from your latest shoot! They were…great. Except, your smile looked kind of…well, forced. You should try practicing that. No one wants to buy from an ad when the model looks…so unnatural.” The people around her tittered, hands delicately in front of their face, a thing only the rich did because they wanted to appear mysterious when they were really all exact copies of one another, all desperate to fit in with each other.

Adrien placed that same smile on his face, the smile he hated the most, and opened his mouth to agree, or apologize when a voice interrupted from behind him. “I disagree. I think he looked quite dashing.”

It felt like he had been drowning for his entire life and then he heard that voice, and he _breathed_. Everything in Adrien relaxed all at once, and, for the first time that night, his smile turned genuine. He turned to see his partner, his best friend, _Ladybug_ standing behind him.

Marinette gave him a grin that could only be shared by people conspiring world domination. Then she turned to the lady and raised an eyebrow. She narrowed her eyes and leaned forward slightly. “Besides, with that much botox, one would think you would refrain from talking about something being unnatural.”

Adrien stifled the laugh that threatened to spill out of him, but knew it was present in his eyes as he met Marinette’s amused gaze.

The woman gasped and clasped her hands to her face. The crowd around her paused and seemed unsure whether to laugh or not. “Excuse me, young lady, I’m not sure who you think you are, but-”

Marinette cut her off again. “I’m no one of your concern. And you’re excused. We’re leaving now.” She grabbed Adrien’s hand and pulled him away from these horrible people and this horrible place and his horrible fake self.

When they were outside, she paused and looked at him. “How are you doing,” she asked, voice soft and the complete opposite of what it had been before.

How was he doing? Her presence made him feel like he was being wrapped in a warm hug, something he valued so much when he had been so cold his whole life. He was doing amazing, same as always when Marinette was around him. He smiled at her, took a step forward. “I feel _alive_.”

She faltered, face flushing as her eyes widened a bit. “Oh, that’s…”

Adrien rarely shocked her. She was Ladybug after all, and it was pretty hard to shock someone who was used to being alert. But it please him endlessly when he did shock her because she made the cutest face. He vowed to capture it in a photograph one day. He continued, “My father most likely won’t be pleased, but I’ll deal with that when it comes.”

Marinette’s whole face drooped and she immediately began rambling. “Adrien, I’m so sorry! I didn’t even think…I didn’t even consider there would be consequences! I just saw you there, and you looked so miserable and I made a vow to myself to never let you feel that way so I _had_ to do something. And that woman, oh that woman! The audacity of her to…ugh, I just couldn’t. You were there alone, and I know how much you hate…I just had to-”

Every word she said had him falling in love with her a bit more. He wanted to ask more about this vow she made but figured she hadn’t meant to say that, so he wouldn’t bring it up. It might be shocking to some people to realize just how deeply and fully one could love another, but it never shocked Adrien. Marinette existed and that was enough. How could he feel anything other than this much love for her when it was what she deserved?

He interrupted her by pulling her into a hug, because if he didn’t, he would kiss her and he couldn’t do that, not when they were just friends.

That was another issue in Adrien’s life, but he dealt with it because Marinette was a blessing and he didn’t care what their relationship was as long as they had one.

He held her in his arms, and she immediately softened, practically melting into him as she wrapped her arms around him, pressing herself tightly against him. He felt like his heart was about to explode as everything that was Marinette surrounded him. He could cry. Going from absolute despair to feeling so loved could do that to someone.

“Thank you,” he murmured into her hair.

She shook her head. “You never have to thank me for anything. I will do anything for you, Adrien. I would do it in a heartbeat. You don’t even have to ask.”

It wasn’t a romantic declaration, but it was more than Adrien had ever hoped to hear. And here Marinette was, giving him the support and love he had been so desperately craving.

His throat tightened and he didn’t trust himself to speak. He would probably blurt out how much he loved her. Instead, he held her tighter, wanting this moment to never end.

It always started and ended the same, and even the middle was some variation of the last.

It started with Nathalie coming to call Adrien to his fathers office. It ended with Adrien on the verge of tears, both from despair and anger. The middle was about how disappointing he was, and how he needed to do better, and then the _or else._

The time, though, the or else was “or else you won’t see that baker girl anymore,” and it was more than he could take. The only reason Adrien didn’t storm out of the office as soon as his father uttered those words was because he wouldn’t do anything to risk Marinette.

As soon as he was dismissed and back in his room, he collapsed to the floor. Plagg tried comforting him, but to no avail.

When Adrien finally managed to whisper _claws out_ , Plagg was ready.

Chat Noir ran and jumped and landed and kept going and going and going. He didn’t stop until he was at Marinette’s balcony, banging on her window, begging her to open.

She appeared with a smile on her face as she gave him a look. “Adrien Agreste if you want to break my window there are easier ways to-what’s wrong?” Her smile vanished when she noticed his face and she pulled him in.

He fell apart in her arms, detransforming, and let her hold him. She soothed her hands on his hair, his back, his arms, and she kissed his head, murmuring comforting words to him.

When he calmed down and lifted his head to meet her gaze, she smooth his hair back, wiping his tears. She was looking at him with such softness in her eyes, the love she felt for him shining clearly and it was _so_ much. Adrien wondered if she felt as overwhelmed when he looked at her that way as he did when she turned it on him. He hoped she did.

She leaned forward and brushed a kiss on his forehead, his cheek, his eyelid, his nose, and then she rested her forward against his. “You don’t have to talk about it, if you don’t want to.”

Adrien shook his head. “I want to. It was…,” he took a deep breath. “It’s something I should be used to by now, I suppose. I’ve practically memorized fathers speech by now, how disappointed he is in me, how I’m not good enough, etcetera, etcetera. It’s just hard. But this time…this time was worse. This time he threatened…this time he threatened to take you away from me. And I hate him so much for it, and I hate him even more for making me hate him. I just wish…I just wish he loved me.”

Marinette cupped his face in her hands and gave him a fierce look. It was one he knew well by now. It was the same look right before she gave a passionate speech, usually about how Hawkmoth would be defeated one day. “Adrien, no one should _ever_ be used to such cruel words. You deserve more, you deserve better. You’re not a disappointment, you’re an incredible person. You’re the kindest, smarted, funniest, brightest person I know. You are loved by so many people: Nino, Alya, Chloe, in her own special way. And he will _never_ take you away from me. I will always find a way to you. I will always be by your side. I love you, Adrien.”

It wasn’t the first time she had said it, but neither of them ever admitted that it was also the romantic kind of love, though they both knew it was. They wouldn’t admit it tonight either, because this wasn’t about that. This was about more.

Adrien sat up, now slightly towering over her. He placed one hand over hers on his cheek, and the other brushed her hair away before his fingertips brushed her jaw. “You’re amazing, Marinette. I love you so much.”

He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into him. She held him back just as tightly.

In the darkest moments, in the stuffiest crowds, in the happiest times, and everything in between, the would hold each other, and it was more than enough for him. It was everything he could ever ask for.


End file.
